Fatal Truck Accident

Published on: June 3, 2011

Wrong Way Drunk Driver in Fort Worth Hits Truck Head-On Leaving One Dead

by Stephen Bilkis

Interstate 30 was the scene of a horrific accident involving a drunk driver and a tanker trucker that had just been filled with fuel. The March 28 accident began when a man reportedly drank at least 10 beers at a local Fort Worth bar. Police say that they are not sure, when the drunk driver entered I-30, but they do know that the first reports of a wrong-way driver began to be reported to the 911 operators at approximately 2:30 a.m. It was not long after these 911 calls began to be made that the drunk driver crashed head-on into the tanker truck. The tanker then overturned and exploded into a massive fireball. The truck driver died almost instantly.

When first responders arrived at the scene, the truck was completely engulfed in flames. The fireball that had shot high into the night sky could be seen for miles, witnesses told a NYC Truck Accident Attorney. Due to the amount of fuel involved, firefighters allowed most of it to burn before they extinguished the flames. The heat was so intense that it melted parts of the concrete and steel structure of the bridge. A Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) spokeswoman stated that the heat was so intense that it literally melted the concrete. She went on to add, “The fuel went down the bridge joints, and the fire followed it.” Repairs to the bridge are expected to take months to complete. Traffic will be affected for months, as the section of the bridge undergoing repair will be bottlenecked from four lanes into two until repairs are complete.

The 23-year old man who police arrested at the scene sits in the Mansfield Jail, police told a New York Truck Accident Attorney. If this type of accident occurred in The Bronx or Westchester County, NY, a qualified attorney would be contacted. He has been charged with suspicion of drunken driving and intoxication manslaughter, and his bail has been set at $90,000. Police sources have also said that they are awaiting the results of his blood alcohol test to be returned. The police spokesman also stated that the man they have in custody simply remembers that he had drunk 10 beers at a local bar, and did not remember driving onto the interstate highway. They also said that the man said that he was very sorry for his actions.

Published on: June 2, 2011

Three Men Killed in Truck Collision in Florida

by Stephen Bilkis

Police have positively identified one of the three men who were killed in a March 30 collision with a tractor-trailer. The deceased was confirmed as a 32-year old male from Mexico, who was riding in the right front passenger seat in the van that crashed into the tractor-trailer on March 30 near Mayo, FL.

After studying the police report, a NY Truck Accident Attorney has learned that the three men were traveling northbound on State Route 349 in a 2002 Dodge Caravan. As the van approached the intersection of SR 349 and U.S. 27, they were supposed to stop at a stop sign, which they did not. The van proceeded into the intersection that was about to be occupied by a 1998 Freightliner semi-tractor pulling a trailer. The westbound tractor-trailer slammed into the right front fender of the Caravan, which spun the van around in a counter-clockwise motion, and following a brief course in a westerly direction, the van came to rest on the shoulder facing south.

Following the collision, the tractor-trailer, which had been traveling west, essentially jackknifed and wound up facing westbound on the eastbound shoulder with the trailer still in the road.

Published on: May 3, 2011

Woman Dies in Car Crash

by Stephen Bilkis

A 19-year old woman has died in a car crash last Thursday. The woman struck the rear of a Volkswagen tractor-trailer as it had stopped in preparation to make a left turn into a private drive off U.S.190 at approximately 5:30pm. The Louisiana State Police trooper at the scene commented that apparently the woman did not notice that the truck had stopped in order to make a turn and then smacked into the rear of the trailer. The trooper went on to add that her Mitsubishi Galant came to rest beneath the trailer. The St. Landry Parish Coroner pronounced the woman dead at the scene. The driver of the truck was not injured in the crash.

As part of a routine investigation, toxicology samples were taken from both the truck driver and from the deceased 19-year old woman and sent out for analysis. The investigation is continuing and may take a few weeks to get the toxicology reports back from the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab. This would be the procedure in Manhattan, NYC. A Lawyer will also file to obtain a copy of the accident report when it becomes available so as to discover the rest of the particulars of this accident, especially as to whether the lights on the rear of the trailer were operative and whether there was a turn signal activated prior to the truck accident.

Firefighters on the scene told a reporter that they had a difficult time in untangling the two vehicles, as they had to pull the mangled wreckage of the car out from beneath the rear of the trailer. Although most first responders must maintain a certain emotional distance from those involved at accident scenes in order to do their jobs, in reality most have children themselves and are never prepared when bad things happen to those who are the same age as their own children. Theirs is an often thankless and unrecognized job that is at times filled with sadness and heartache.